This is used to send back an error packet in response to the matched packet: otherwise it is equivalent to .B DROP so it is a terminating TARGET, ending rule traversal. This target is only valid in the .BR INPUT , .B FORWARD and .B OUTPUT chains, and user-defined chains which are only called from those chains. The following option controls the nature of the error packet returned: .TP \fB\-\-reject\-with\fP \fItype\fP The type given can be \fBicmp\-net\-unreachable\fP, \fBicmp\-host\-unreachable\fP, \fBicmp\-port\-unreachable\fP, \fBicmp\-proto\-unreachable\fP, \fBicmp\-net\-prohibited\fP, \fBicmp\-host\-prohibited\fP, or \fBicmp\-admin\-prohibited\fP (*), which return the appropriate ICMP error message (\fBicmp\-port\-unreachable\fP is the default). The option \fBtcp\-reset\fP can be used on rules which only match the TCP protocol: this causes a TCP RST packet to be sent back. This is mainly useful for blocking .I ident (113/tcp) probes which frequently occur when sending mail to broken mail hosts (which won't accept your mail otherwise). .IP (*) Using icmp\-admin\-prohibited with kernels that do not support it will result in a plain DROP instead of REJECT